


Hook, Reel, and Pull

by Zakaro



Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: Canada Moist Talkers (Blaseball Team), In Which McBlase attempts to be a detective, Jenkins' not from around here, Multi, Spliff knows things, and Beans is cute, elsewhere, mooney doctor is still angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-21 23:15:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30029373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zakaro/pseuds/Zakaro
Summary: Resident Moist Talkers lawyer McBlase is asked to sue Elsewhere. Instead, she tries to find it, her teammates, and how exactly you save someone who's just... Elsewhere.
Kudos: 5
Collections: Canada Moist Talkers Fanfiction





	Hook, Reel, and Pull

“You want me to… what?”

  
“Sue _Elsewhere_ for CV to come back.”

  
Sometimes, McBlase regrets being a lawyer. She doesn’t regret going to Gleek, somehow, or getting wrapped up in the world of Blaseball and being considered one player when it’s her and Beans, but lawyer? She’s regretted that many times. First in Law School, then later at the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. While dealing with discrimination lawsuits based on a lack of hiring non-gilled persons for underwater retrieval made her want to throw a mug across the room, at least it was something she knew where to start with.   
  
York Silk and Jesús Koch asking to sue _Elsewhere_ in hopes of bringing back Commissioner Vapor, the third member of their Teen Squad, was not something McBlase knew where to start with.

“Have you tried finding  _ Elsewhere _ ?”

  
“Well, no,” York started, trailing off. Jesús piped up to fill in the gap, saying “We tried to get swept away a couple times but the currents… refused. We couldn’t find Ziwa so…. We’re here.”

McBlase sighed, taking a sip of her espresso. “I’m not sure _Elsewhere_ has a mailing address I can send the lawsuit to. Or a firm contracted.” She paused, about to deny them entirely. Unfortunately, being a cat owner, McBlase was weak to the power of Pleading Eyes. And when it comes from Jesús, York, Budy, and Beans all at once, there was no chance.  
  
“Alright, alright, I’ll see what I can do. But you’re coming along for this, Beans. Don’t think you can sleep your way through this one.”  
  
Beans, predictably, immediately flopped onto the floor.   
  


* * *

First stop was to the resident expert of bringing people back from weird places, Mooney Doctor. Daring to invade the doctor’s space was something that the younger members of the team had stopped after some rather thorough examinations happened to occur soon after the intrusions. McBlase herself had escaped Mooney’s wrath so far, but that was because the lawyer kept things professional, allowing her to ‘conveniently’ drop in on Mooney for medical records.   
  
Hopefully Doctor wouldn’t shut herself away completely again.   
  
“Mooney? I need a favor.”  


The slim figure turned, glasses glinting in the fluorescent light. She was looking a little better, McBlase decided. The bags under her eyes had softened, and her labcoat was at least unstained.    


“Yes, McBlase? What records do you need today?”  
  
The Doctor had already started turning towards her laptop as McBlase broke in.  
  
“I- it’s not about records,” she said, looking Mooney in the eye. “It’s about your other area of expertise. Namely,” McBlase swallowed, “Retrieving people from places beyond our plane.”  
  
“What? You mean the countless failures I’ve made? The players I helped kill? The cries of a desperate woman begging for this not to be the end of her love story?”  
  
“..yes,” McBlase whispered. They stared into each other’s eyes for a time, McBlase watching the grief flashing through Mooney’s eyes and her own regret reflected in the doctor’s glasses.

“...if you’re talking of the Flooding, and those sent  _ Elsewhere _ , I don’t have much for you. It’s not like Jaylen, where we could tell they were a Place. It’s not like m-my wife, where all signs spiral around and around and into the Black Hole again and again and again. Vapor hasn’t been sent to a different place. He’s just...  _ elsewhere _ . But you’ll probably have better luck with someone who’s been  _ Elsewhere _ , or sent through Reverb, or Feedback, or Alternated, or anything. I’d like to be alone now, McBlase.”   
  


The lawyer just nodded and left, closing the door behind her. In the hall, she paused, and pressed her forehead against the door.    
  


“...sorry, Mooney.”   


* * *

  
  


**CCOHS: Keeping you safe and dry.**

  * ~~_Check w/ Mooney abt bringing back_~~


  * Reverb, Feedback, Alts?


  * Feedbacked: Eugenia, Shelton, Spliff, HFS, Beasley, ~~zim~~ NO, Cerveza


  * Reverbed: N/A


  * Alternates: Jesús, Good


  * Jesús ~~unlikely, considering Flooding experiments~~ says it’s ‘similar but less directed’


  * Eugenia might be best of feedbacked, was quick? Any almost any feedbacked player could work, Beasley may have difficulty explaining


  * Beasley sniff CV out?



* * *

“It’s a lot easier to find people when we’re on the road, Beans,” McBlase complained, Beans doing his best to nearly trip her over with his body winding around and in front of her ankles. Thanks to the power of leather boots and having Beans for Far Too Long, McBlase took it with mild annoyance. The longcat was likely bored, having done nothing but walk around Gleek looking for someone to continue their investigation. 

She had met up with York and Jesús briefly to convey her findings, but a questioning of Jesús gave only the confirmation that flooding indeed had something to do with the barriers between dimensions. The teens did inform her that some players who came back from  _ Elsewhere _ weren’t all there. They returned, definitely, but their emotions were absent and their names felt lacking. 

“Just need to find somebody who’s Feedbacked. It’s not like that’s half the tea-”

“You rang?”

McBlase startled, turning towards the voice only to find none other than Cedric Spliff poking his head out of a ceiling tile, dreads flopping down and immediately proving a tempting target for Beans. 

“I- Spliff, what the Monitor are you doing in the ceiling?!?”

“Ya know, the usual. And we been over this, McBlase-y, just Cedric will do. Don’t need to tell the whole world Spliff’s around. Oh, do you know if the gym showers’ hot water issues have cleared up? Jenky was complaining about it earlier,” her fellow Blaseball player replied, dragging a bag out of the ceiling and giving it to Beans, who happily brought it to the floor and started pawing through it. 

“I- okay, whatever. Actually,  _ Cedric _ , I’ve got a question to ask you. Do you feel like the Flooding is at all related to Feedback?”

He considered the question, removing his bandana to wring out the accumulated dirt and moisture that was typical in the in-between zones of Gleek. His reply came with a shrug, “Can’ say they have the same energies, nah. Feedback tickles your spine, sparks in your hands and head. Floodin’s just a pull, wait, more like a push. It don’t want you, specific, but if ya happen to get caught by a riptide it’ll pull you away just the same. Feedback strikes with a purpose, Flooding just happens.”

McBlase frowned, crossing out the Feedback line in her notebook. All her leads were ending up as dead ends. If Feedback wasn’t related, Reverb was even less likely to be, leaving only Alternate as any form of explanation. Could it be that Flooding swept players a few dimensions over? Or just into a between? Were dimensions even the real reasoning behind this? Why did any weather happen, why did Ballparks cause the Flooding, why was sh-

“Hey! Give it back, now… Beans… Beans now! Bad Beans! Let go! Beaansssss!”

McBlase turned to find Beans and Spliff frozen in place, both looking at her instead of each other. Cedric held onto a rusty copper pipe in both hands, the other end of which Beans was wrapped around. Cedric spoke first, excuses spilling out.

“Uh hi nothing to see here just reclaiming my property from your lovely cat here haha who just happened to take this out of my bag, therefore starting-”

“MAO.”

“AS I SAID, therefore starting this conflict-”

“MAAAAAOOO.”

“-and disturbing your peace so if I- aha!”

Spliff pulled at the pipe suddenly, Beans slipping off after being successfully distracted by the running mouth of the conman. Thrusting it into his bag again with a clank, he smiled.

“Okay lovely now I believe we should visit the gym to make sure everything’s okay there yup yup come along now!”

It took McBlase a good minute to finish processing and shake Cedric’s hand off her arm, being fully able to walk to the gym without guidance, thank you very much. 

* * *

In a completely surprising turn of events, the gym showers had indeed started outputting hot water again. “Hot” Fish Summer waved to them as the shark left, empty bottles of water and protein shakes tucked into sweatbands and pockets. Cedric, Beans, and McBlase slipped into the locker rooms, steam clouding the air.

“Cedric, we can obviously see that the showers are working again. I need to go find Beasley or Good.”

“Ah, now that’s the other reason why we’re here, Blasey! I happen to know-”

“What do you think you know now, Cedric,” spoke Jenkins Good themself, casually dressed with a gym bag over their shoulder and drying their hair with a towel. 

“-that this is when you finish up your routine, Jenkie!”

There was silence. 

“And how the  _ Nunchuck _ do you know that, Spliff?” Jenkins said, taking a step closer. Their eye fizzed in the shadow above their nose, narrowing to focus on the dreadlocked player.

“Because you’re always late to Friday Game Nights and most dinners and you leave from whatever that middle day meal is to go here with HFS but they shower faster and at least only hit my shoulder Al hates when I get a bruised lip-”

“I believe you, I believe you. Sorry, Ced. There were… Issues. With showers. Before.”

Good relaxed, backing up and apologizing. After a pause, they continued. 

“I am really sorry. My temper can be, uh, hard to control.”

Silence took over once again for a few moments, before McBlase sighed and spoke.

“No, it’s not just on you, Good. We did just barge into the lockers. Actually, I have a couple of questions for you, if you don’t mind?”

“...Alright. I'm hungry, though. Let’s go grab a bite.”

* * *

“So, do you feel that Flooding is similar to when you came here?”

Across the table, Good chewed contemplatively on their salad, swallowing before gesturing with their fork. 

“Yes. Not exactly, but the feeling of dimensions being stretched is similar. Flooding feels closer to a leaking than when I got here, which was more being tugged through. It’s almost nostalgic. I wondered, when it first showed up I mean, whether I could use it to hitch a ride home. Doesn’t work like that. It’s not going anywhere, it’s going  _ Elsewhere _ . Can’t pull yourself to  _ Elsewhere _ , there’s nothing to land your ‘hook’ on. Gotta have a good grip on something, and only the here and now gives that.”

McBlase pondered that as Good returned to their salad, ignoring Beans starting to paw at her pants. Little glut had his liver and peppers for the day, but the long bloodsucker always wanted more.

“You said you can’t pull yourself to a place without ‘hooking,’ or gripping onto it. Can you push yourself from here? Or pull something else in?”

“Sure could. Pushing’s too dangerous though. Last thing you want is to miss your arc and float in between forever. Pulling something else in… theoretically? I mean, I know beings can do that. Wouldn’t want to try that anywhere near home though. Last thing you want is reeling in another NUT right on top of us, eh?”

“No, not really. Would you be willing to try, at all?”

“I could try, yeah. Definitely not here, though. Where’s our next away game?”

“Crabs.”

“...that could work. They were the reason for the flooding after all. Worth a shot, even if I just pull in a load of Nintendon’t.”

* * *

Later, when Jenkins Good stands on the mound of the Crabitat and breathes, and their eye glows and sparks and  _ pulls _ , McBlase holds her breath.

Later, when Com-issioner V-por comes stumbling out from  _ Elsewhere _ , standing still like a statue even as York and Jesús slam him into a group hug, McBlase smiles in relief.

Later, when Jenkins turns to her and gives a tired smile back, eye dim but happy, McBlase feels gratitude and debt and happiness and a tugging in her gut. 

Later, in the dark of a room that is only her’s and Beans for a few nights, McBlase lies staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out when her perception of Jenkins switched from a laid back, slightly mysterious pitcher with a knack for games and passion for exercise to someone she could turn to for things beyond the control of lawsuits and bylaws. 

Later, more will come, because the Flooding hasn’t stopped. 

And now, after later, Vapor is home with his team and his friends. And even with all the new and old questions blazing through her mind, mysteries of herself and Gleek and Jenkins and Cedric and Halifax, McBlase has earned the right to rest. 

So she does.


End file.
